BEING THE AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE OF
TREASURE DISCOVERED IN THE BAHAM
ISLANDS—tt4-THE- ¥EAR—t 90 a NOW^ j '
GIVEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Book il.
CHAPTER I.
Once More in John Saunders' Snug­
gery.
Need I say that it was a great occa­
sion when I was once more back safe
In John Saunders’ snuggery, telling my
story to my two friends, John and
Charlie Webster, all just as If I had
never stirred from my easy chair, In­
stead o f having spent an exciting
month or so among sharks, dead men,
blood-lapping ghosts,
card-playing
skeletons and such like?
My friends listened to my yarn in
characteristic fashion, John Saunders’
eyes like mice peeping out of a cup­
board, and Charlie Webster’s huge
bulk poised almost threatening, ns It
were, with the keenness of his atten­
tion. His deep-set kind brown eyes
glowed like a boy’s as I went on, but
by their dangerous kindling at certain
points of the story, those dealing with
our pockmarked friend, Henry P. To­
bias, Jr., I soon realized where, for
him, the chief Interest of the story
lay.
“T h e ----- rebel!” he roared out
once or twice, using an adjective pe­
culiarly English.
For him my story had but one moral
—the treason of Henry P. Tobins, Jr.
The treasure might as well have had
no existence, so far as he was con­
cerned, and the grim climax in the
cave drew nothing from him but a pre­
occupied nod. And John Saunders
was tittle more satisfactory. Both of
them allowed me to end in silence.
They both seemed to be thinking
deeply.
“I must say you two are a great au­
dience,” I said presently, perhaps
rather childishly nettled.
"It’s a very serious matter,” said
John Saunders, and I realized that it
was not my crony but the secretary to
the treasury of his Britannic majes­
ty’s government at Nassau that was
talking. As he spoke he looked across
at Charlie Webster, almost as if for­
getting me. “Something should be
done about it, eh, Charlie?” he con­
tinued.
“----- traitor!” roared Charlie, once
more employing that British adjective.
And then he turned to m e:
“Look here, old pal, I’ll make a bar­
gain with you, if you like. I suppose
you’re keen for that other treasure
now, eh?”
“I am,” said I, rather stiffly.
“Well, then, I’ll go after It with
you—on one condition. You can keep
the treasure, If you'll give me Tobias.
It would do my heart good to get him,
as you had the chance of doing that
afternoon. Whatever were you doing
to miss him?”
“I proposed to myself the satisfac­
tion of making good that mistake,” I
said, “on our next meeting. I feel I
owe It to the poor old captain.”
“Never mind; hand the captain’s
rights over to mei—and I'll help you
all I know with your treasure. Be­
sides, Tobias Is a job for an English­
man—eh, John? It’s a matter of ‘king
and country’ with me. With you It
would be mere private vengeance.
With me It will be an execution; with
you it would be a murder. Isn't that
so, John?”
“Exactly," John nodded.
“Since you were away,” Charlie be­
gan aguin, “I’ve bought the prettiest
yawl you ever set eyes on—the Fla­
mingo—forty-five over all, and this
time the very fastest boat in the har­
bor. Yes! she’s faster even than the
Susan B. Now I've a holiday due me
In about a fortnight. Say the word,
a nd the Flamingo’s yours for a couple
or months, and her captain too. 1
make only that one condition.”
“All right, Charlie,” I agreed; “he’»
yours.”
Whereat Charlie shot out a huge
paw like a shoulder of mutton and
grabbed my hand with as much fervor
as though i had saved his life or done
him some other unimaginable kind­
ness. And as he did so his broad,
sweet smile came back again. He was
thinking of Tobias.
While Charlie Webster was arrang­
ing his affairs so that he might be
able to take hla holiday with a free
mind I busied myself with provision­
ing the Flamingo, and In casually chat­
ting with one and another along the
water front. In the hope of gathering
some hint that might guide us on our
coming expedition. I thought It pos­
sible, too, that chance might thus
bring me some information as to the
recent movements of Tobias.
In this way I made the acquaintance
of several old salts, both white and
black, one or two of whom time and
their neighbors had Invested with a
legendary savor of the old “wrecking
days.” which. If rumor speaks - true,
are not entirely vanished from the
remoter corners of the islands. But
oil her their romantic halos were en­
tirely due to imaginative gossip, or
they themselves were too shrewd to
be drawn, for I got nothing out of
them to my purpose.
One afternoon in the course of these
!
rather fruitless If Interesting investi­
gations among the picturesque ship,
| yards of Bay street I had wandered
farther along that historic water front
than is customary with sightseeing pe­
destrians, und had come to where the
road begins to be left alone with the
sea, except for a few country houses
.here and thefe among the surrounding
scrub—when my eye was caught by
a little store that seemed to have
strayed away from the others—a small
timber erection painted in blue and
white with a sort of sea-wildness and
loneliness about It, and with large,
naive lettering across its lintel an­
nouncing itself as an “Emporium” (I
think that was the word) “of Marine
Curiosities.”
I pushed open the door. There was
no one there. The little store was
evidently left to take care of itself.
Inside It was like an old curiosity shop
of Ihe sea, every available inch of
space, rough tables and n u l l s Uttered
and hung with the queer and lovely
bric-a-brac of the sea. Presently a
tiny girl came in, as it seemed, from
nowhere nnd said she would fetch her
lather. In a moment or two he came,
a tall, weathered Englishman of the
sailor type, brown and lean, with
lonely blue eyes.
“You don’t seem afraid of thieves,”
I remarked.
“It ain’t a jewelry store,” he said,
So we left the little store, with Its
door unlocked as I had found It, and
a few steps brought us to a little house
1 had not before noticed, with a neat
garden In front of It, all the garden
beds symmetrically bordered with
couch shells. Shells were evidently
the simple-hearted fellow’s mania, his
revolution of the beauty of the world.
Here In a neat parlor, also much dec­
orated with shells, tea was served to
us by the little girl 1 had first seen
and an elder sister, who, I gathered,
made all the lonely dreamer’s family.
Then, shyly pressing on me a cigar, he
turned to show me the promised treas­
ures. He also told me more of his
munner of finding them, and of the
long trips which he bad to take In
seeking them, to out-of-the-way cays
and In dangerous waters.
He was showing me the last and
rarest of his specimens. He had kept,
he said, the best to the last. To me,
as a layman, it was not nearly so at­
tractive as other things he had shown
me—little more to my eye than a rath
er commonplace though pretty shell;
but he explained that It was found,
or had so far been found, only in one
spot in the islands, a lovely, seldom-
visited cay several miles to the north­
east of Andros island.
“What Is it culled?" I asked, for It
was part of our plan for Charlie to do
a little duck shooting on Andros, be­
fore we tuckled the business of Toblus
and the treasure.
“It's called -------- Cay nowadays,”
he answered, “but It used to be called
Short Shrift Island.”
“Short Shrift Island I” I cried In
spite of myself, immediately annoyed
at my lack of presence of mind.
“Certainly,” he rejoined, looking a
little surprised but evidently without
suspicion. He was too simple and too
taken up with his shell.
“It Is such an odd name,” I said,
trying to recover myself.
“Yes I those old pirate chaps cer­
tainly did think up some of the ruin-
mlest names.”
“One of the pirate haunts, was It?”
I queried with nssumed.Indifference.
“Supposed to be. But one hears
that of every other cay In the Baha­
mas. I take no stock in such yarns.
My shells are all the treasure I expect
to find.”
“What did you call that shell?” I
asked.
He told me the name, but I forgot
It immediately. Of course I had asked
it only for the sake of learning more
precisely about Slytrt Shrift island. He
told me innocently enough Just where
It lay.
“Are you going after It?” he laughed.
“Oh I well,” I replied, “I am geing
uii duck-shooting trip to Andros be­
fore long, and I thought I might drop
around to your cay and pick a few of
them up for you.”
“It w< ’.i!d be mighty kind of you, but
they’re not easy to find. I’ll tell you
exactly—” He went off, dear fellow,
Into the minutest description of the
habits of -------- , while all the time I
was eager to rush off to Charlie Web­
ster und John Saunders and shout
into their ears—as later I did at the
first possible moment that evening:
"I’ve found our missing cay I Short
Shrift Island i s -------- .” (I mentioned
the name of a cay, which, as in the
case of “Dead Man's Shoes,” I am un­
able to divulge.)
“Maybe I” said Charlie, “maybe 1
We can try it. But,” he added, “did
you find out anything about Tobias?”
CHAPTER II.
In Which I Am Afforded Glimpse« Into
Futurity—Possibly Useful.
Two or three evenings before we
were due to sail, at one of our snug­
gery conclaves, I put the question
whether unyone had eycr tried the di­
vining rod for treasure in the Islands.
Old John nodded and said he knew
the man I wanted, a half-crazy old ne­
gro back there In Grant’s Town—the
negro quarter spreading out Into the
bruch behind the ridge on which the
"You Don’t Seem Afraid of Thieves." town of Nnssau proper U built.
“He calls himself a ‘king,’ ’ ’ he
with the curious soft sing-song intona­
added, “and the natives do, I believe,
tion'of the Nassau “conch.”
regard him as the head of a certain
“That’s just what I was thinking It
trjbe. The lads cull him ‘Old King
was,” I said.
“I know what you mean,” he replied, Coffee’—a memory I suppose of the
Ashant.ee war. Anyone will tell you
his lonely face lighting up as faces do
where he lives. He has a name as a
at unexpected «ndcrstandlng In a preacher—among the Holy Jumpers I—
stranger. “Of course there are some
but he’s getting too old to do much
that feel that way, but they’re few and preaching nowadays. Go and see him
far between.”
for fun anyway.”
“Not enough to make a fortune ont
So next morning I went.
of?”
.
*
I had hardly been prepared for the
“Oh! I do pretty well,” he said; “I plunge into “Darkest Africa” which I
mustn't complain. Money's not every­ found myself taking, as, leaving Gov­
thing, you see. In a business like ernment house behind, perched on the
this. There’s going after the things, crest of Its white ridge, I walked a
you know. One’s got to count that In few yards Inland and entered a region
too.”
which, for all its green palms, mnde a
I looked at him in some surprise. similar sudden Impression of pervad­
I had met something even rarer than ing blackness on the mind which one
the things he traded in. I had met a gets on suddenly entering a coal-min­
merchant of dreams, to whom the mere ing district after traveling through
hnndling of his merchandise seeme'd fields and meadows.
sufficient profit: “There’s going after
There were far more blacks than
the things, you know. One's got to
whites down on Bay street, but here
count that in torn”
Naturally we were neck-deep In talk there were nothing but blacks on ev­
in a moment. I wanted to hear all he ery side.
The roads ran In every direction,
cared to tell me about “going after nnd along them everywhere were fig­
the things”—such “t h i n g s a n d he
ures of black women shuffling with
was nothing loth, as he took up one burdens on their heads, or groups of
strange or beautiful object after an­
girls, audaciously merry, most of them
other, his face aglow, and he quite
bonny, here and there almost a beauty.
evidently without a thought of doing
There
were churches and dance hall»
business, and told me all about them—
nnd saloons—all radiating, so to say, a
how nnd where he got them, and so
prosperous blackness.
forth.
At first the effect of the whole scene
“But,” he said presently, encouraged
was a little sinister, even a little
by my unfeigned interest, “I should
frlghieoing. The strangeness of Af­
ilke to show you a few rarer things 1
rican jungle, was here, and one was a
have In the house, and which I
white mnn In It all alone among grin­
wouldn't sell, or even show to every­
ning savage faces. But for the figures
one. If you’u honor me by taking » . about one being clothed, the Illusion
cup of tea we might look them over.” had bepn complete; but for that and
the kind-hearted salutations from
comely
whlte-turbaned
mammies'
M o n m o u th H er a ld
which soon sprang up about ine, and
the groups of elfish children that Monmouth, Ore. Jan. 21 1921
laughingly blocked one’s progress with
Page 5
requests—not In any weird African
dialect but In excellent c.uglish—for
“a copper, please.”
DR. F. R. BO W ERSO X
This request was not above the
maidenly dignity of quite big and bux­ P H Y S I C I A N & S U R G E O N
om lasses. One of these, a really su­
PH O NE NO S.
perb young creature, asked for “a cop­
per, please,” but with a saucy coquet­
OFFICE
-
3303
ry befitting her adolescer e.
HOUSE
33«»
“I’ll give you one If you’ll tell me
where the ‘king’ lives,” said I.
“Ole King Coffee?” she asked, and
J .O . MATTHIS
then fell Into a very agony of negro
laughter. Recovering. s“e put her
Physician and Surgeon
finger to her lips, suggesting slleuce,
P h o n e 573
House 596
and said:
Office: 409 10 Bank of Commerce Bldg“,
“Come along, I’ll show you!”
Salem
Ore.
And walking by my side, lithe as a
young unlmul, she had soon brought
me to & cabin- much like the rest,
though perhaps a little poorer looking.
M onm outh Grange 476
“Shh ! There he Is!” and she shook Meet# the Second Saturday iu Each
all over again with suppressed giggles.
Month at 10:30 A. M.
I gave her a sixpence and told her Public Program at 2:30 p. m. to which
to be a good girl. Then I advanced up visitors are welcome.
a little strip of garden to where I had
P. O. P o w e l l , Master.
caught a glimpse of a venerable
Miss M a g g ie B u t l e r , Sec.
white-haired negro seated ut the win­
dow. as if for exhibition, with a great
open book In his hands. This he ap-
Monmouth and Independence
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RAYMONT) E. DERBY
Proprietor
#
P h o n e 1504
WALTER G. BROWN
Representing the
“P E N N S Y L V A N IA ”
F ir e I n s u r a n c e C o.
of Philadelphia
N o ta r y Public
Blank Deeds, Mortgages. Etc.
$100 Reward, $100
T h e r e a d e r s o f tills p a p e r will be
p le a s e d t o l e a r n t h a t t h e r e is at least
o n e d r e a d e d d i s e a s e t h a t s c ie n c e h a s
be en a b l e t o c u r e in a l l its s t a g e s and
t h a t is c a t a r r h . C a t a r r h b e in g
influ enced by c o n s t i t u t i o n a l co n d itio n s
requ*»-#*fi c o n s t i t u t i o n a l t r e a t m e n t . H a l l ’s
C a t a r r h M e d ic in e is t a k e n i n t e r n a l l y and
a c t s t h r u t h e B lo od o n t h e M u cou s S u r ­
fa c e » o f t h e S y s t e m t h e r e b y d e s tr o y in g
tl*‘ f o u n d a t i o n o f t h e d is e a s e , g iv in g the
p a t i e n t s t r e n g i n by b u ild in g up th e con­
s t i t u t i o n a n d a s s i s t i n g n a t u r e in d oin g its
w ork .
Tl ie p r o p r i e t o r s h a v e so m u ch
f a i t h in t h e c u r a t i v e p o w e r o f H a l l ’s
C a t a r r h M edic in e t h a t t h e y offer O n e
H u n d r e d D o l l a r s f o r a n y c a s e th a t it fa ils
to c ure . S e n d f o r list o f te stim o n ia ls.
- A d d r e s s F . J. C H E N E Y & CO., Toledo,
9 h lo
Sold b y a l l D r u g g ists, 76c.
I am h e r e to sa w w ood
N o r a i s e in p r i c e s
at p r e s e n t
S . H . H in k le , Phone 2411
S T E V E N S A CO.
D e a l e r s in
S econ d H and G oods
C St.
Independence
“ Perhaps You Don’t Know”
says the Good Judge
This He Appeared to Be Reading With
Great Solemnity.
penred to be reading with great solem­
nity, through enormous goggles,
though I thought I caught a side-glint
of his eye, as though he had taken a
swift reconnoiterlng glance in my di­
rection—a glance which apparently
had hut deepened his attention and
increased the dignity of his demeanor.
Remembering that he was not mere­
ly royal but pious also, I made my sal­
utation at once courtler-llke and sanc­
timonious.
“Good day to your majesty,” I said;
“God’s good, God looks after his serv­
ants.”
“De Lord Is merciful,” ho answered
gravely; “God takes care of his chil­
dren. Be seated, gar, nnd please ex­
cuse my not rising; my rheumatism is
a sore affliction to me.”
I was not long In getting to the sub­
ject of my visit. The old man listened
to me with great composure, but with
a marked accession of mysterious Im­
portance In his manner.
"It's true, sar,” he said, when I had
finished, “I could find It for you. I
could find it for you, sure enough; and
I'm de only mun in all do islands dut
could. But I should have to go wld
you, and It’s de Lord's will to keep me
here In dls chair wld rheuinntlcs. De
rods has turned In dese old hands
many a time, und i have faith in de
Lord dey would turn again—yes. I'd
find It for you; sure enough. I’d find
It if any man could—nnd It was de
Lord's will. But mebbe I can see It
for you wldout moving from dls chair.”
• “Do you mean, brother, that the
Lord has given you second sight?”
“Dnt nm i t ! Glory to his name, hal­
lelujah I” he answered. “I look In a
glass ball—so; and If do spirit helps
me I can see clear as a picture fur
under de ground—far, far away over
de sea. It’s de Lord's truth, sar—
blessed be his name!”
I nsked him whether he would look
Into Ills crystal for me. With n hurst
of profanity, us unexpected as it was
vivid, he cursed “dem boys” that had
stolen from him n prlccfess crystal
which once hnd belonged to his old
royal mother, who, before him, had
had Ihe same gift of the spirit. But,
he added—turning to a table by his
side, nnd liftin'? from It a lnrge cut-
glass deenntcr of considerable rapac­
ity, though nt present void of con­
tents—that he had found that gazing
Into the large glass ball of Its stopppr
produced almost equally good results
at times.
First he asked me to be kind enough
to shut the door.
We had to he very quiet, he de­
clared : the spirit could work only In
deep silence. And he asked me to ba
kind enough to close my eyes. Then
I heard his voice muttering. In a
strange tongue, a queer dark gobbling
kind of words, which may have been
ancient African spell-words, or sheer
gibberish such as magicians in all
times and places have employed to
mystify their consultants.
I looked at him through the corner
of my eye—as doubtless he had antici­
pated, for he wus glaring with mi air
of inspired abstraction Into the ball of
the decanter stopper. So we sat silent
How long a little of
the R ea l T o b a cco
Chew will last.
N or how much gen
uine chewing satisfac­
tion the full, rich real
tobacco taste will give.
A sk any man who uses
the Real Tobacco Chew.
H e will tell you that
this class of tobacco
will give more satisfac­
tion—and at less.co£t—
than the ordinary kind.
Put up in two styles
W -B C U T is a long fine-cut tobacco
R IG H T C U T is a short-cut tobacco
W e y m a n - B r u t o h Companyî.1107 Broadway, New York City
\
CHAMBE1LM
\\ TABLE TS
r
[IS is just what you need, miulam.
Many
women who were troubled with indigestion, a
sallow, muddy skin, indicating biliousness and
habitual constipation, Lave been permanently cured
by the use o f Chambei Iain’s Tablets. Before using
these tablets they felt miserable and despondent.
N ow they arc cheerful and happy and relish their
meals. T ry them. They only cort a quarter.
for I suppose some tan minutes. Then
I heard him give another deep sigh.
Opening my eye» I saw him slowly
shaking his head.
“De spirits don’t seem eommunleuhle
dls afternoon,” he muttered tilting the
decanter slightly on one side and ob­
serving It drearily.
“Do you think, your majesty," I
asked with as serious n fare as I
could assume, “the spirits might work
better—If the decanter were to be
filled?”
“Mebbe, sar; mebbe. Spirits Is cu­
rious things; dey need inspiration
sometimes. Just like ourselves.”
“What kind of inspiration do you
think gets the best results, your maj­
esty?”
“Well, sar, I ean’t say as dey Is very
particular, but I’se noticed ney do
seem powerful ’tached to Just plain
good old Jamaica rum.”
“They shall have It,” I said.
I had noticed that there was a .sa­
loon a few yards away, so before many
rn. re minutes had passed I hud been
there and eome hack again, und th<*
decanter stood ruddlly filled, ready for
the resumption of our seance. But be­
fore we began I of course accepted the
seer’» Invitation to Join him and the?
spirits In a friendlv libation
Continued next week
A
C a re le s s
With M oney
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•